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Felipe Massa and Fernando
Alonso finished sixth and seventh respectively in the
Chinese Grand Prix. While motor sport is never really
predictable, to some extent this less than satisfactory
result for Scuderia Ferrari could have been suggested
prior to the start. The places ahead of the Brazilian
driver were filled by the two Red Bulls, the two
McLarens and, one Mercedes, a team that had shown signs
of a big step forward right from free practice earlier
in the weekend.
Definitely less predictable was the actual finishing
order, because for the first time this year, victory did
not go to Sebastian Vettel, but to Lewis Hamilton
instead. The championship leader took second place ahead
of team-mate Mark Webber, the author of an electrifying
drive, making up fifteen places after starting from
eighteenth on the grid. With an extended three week
break before the next race in Turkey, when the Scuderia
hopes to introduce some significant modifications to the
150ºItalia, perhaps the Prancing Horse can take some
encouragement that today’s result at least proves that
Red Bull Racing is not unbeatable.
Tyres again played a vital role with the winner pitting
three times, although Fernando did not feel the fact he
was on a two stop would have made much difference to his
final placing. Felipe on the other hand did concede that
an additional tyre change might have allowed him to
fight off a few more of those who got past him in the
final stages, while adding he felt this was his best
race drive for quite some time.
The two McLarens passed Vettel at the start and these
three pulled away from Rosberg and the Ferraris led by
Felipe who got past his team-mate shortly after the
start. The Brazilian was particularly competitive,
running as high as second with the run of pit stops,
while Fernando seemed to spend the entire race fighting
Schumacher: the early battle was the one that did the
damage as it came after the Spaniard’s first pit stop
and stuck behind the Mercedes, he lost touch with the
leaders. Then towards the end of the race, it was
Schumacher, now behind the Ferrari, who was trying to
pass, but without success. Running the hard tyre for
their final stint, both Felipe and Fernando were
experiencing some significant degradation which meant
the Brazilian had to see other cars come flying past
him, while the Spaniard hung on with plenty of
determination to that seventh spot.
Rosberg proved just how competitive was the Mercedes
this weekend as a lap 12 pit stop put him out in clean
air and while the leading trio seemed to be tripping
over one another, it allowed him to lead for a large
chunk of the 56 laps. Hamilton had other ideas though,
passing Button on lap 35 before getting the edge on
Rosberg, who would finish fifth and with 12 laps to go,
he got by Felipe on the straight. The McLaren man
finally demoted Vettel from his accustomed lead with
just four laps remaining, while further back, Webber was
on a charge, which would end with a fine third place. It
was a thrilling battle for a larger than usual crowd
here in Shanghai. Behind the two Ferraris, the final
points went to eighth placed Schumacher, followed by
Petrov and Kobayashi.
So that’s the first three races, the first trio of
“flyaways” done and dusted. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro is
third in the championship, but big improvements are
needed and that is exactly what the team is working on
for the next round in Istanbul, Turkey at the beginning
of May.
Stefano Domenicali: “Fourteen points is
definitely not what we wanted to come away with from
this Grand Prix: there is no use denying we are
disappointed. We will have to study carefully the way
this race evolved and understand why, having started off
by being competitive, especially with Felipe, after
around two thirds of the race, we saw others produce a
more competitive finish than we did. From a strategic
point of view, I don’t think it would have changed much
if we had done three stops instead of two: when the
final result shows such small gaps, some incidents would
be enough to make the difference and with hindsight, it
is easy to judge. Felipe drove a great race and was
fighting right up to the closing stages for a place on
the podium, getting to 15” off the winner, while
Fernando’s race was affected by his duel with Michael
after the first pit stop. This championship has not
started the way we would have wanted or hoped for. Our
car definitely needs to improve its performance,
especially in qualifying. We must work very hard over
the coming weeks, especially on the aerodynamics. We
know our problems can’t be solved by waving a magic
wand, all in one go, especially as our rivals are not
going to sit around twiddling their thumbs: all the
same, we need to take a step in the right direction,
right from the next race.”
Felipe Massa: “It’s a real shame not
managing to finish this race in a better position. It
really seems that, from qualifying to the race, we
discover another car: yesterday, we were not
competitive, today we fought with the leaders right to
the end. Unfortunately, on the hard tyres we could not
defend position all the way to the end. The strategy?
Now, it’s easy to say that we were not on the right one,
but we are a team and we take our decisions together.
Vettel made the same choice as us and we had a
reasonably similar pace. Probably we would have finished
on the podium, but we need to look into all the details
with the engineers. I am happy with my race; I think it
was my best this year and maybe even the best including
last year. We need to work out how to improve the car,
especially in qualifying.”
Fernando Alonso: “I made a bad start,
Felipe managed to get past me and a Force India nearly
did the same, then it was a good battle on the opening
lap. After the first pit stop, I lost too much time
behind Michael, thus losing touch with the leading
group. I found myself fighting him again at the end of
the race, with our positions reversed. Once again, it
was a good battle, but I would have preferred to have
been doing it for a podium finish rather than seventh
place. Unfortunately, our race pace was too slow and I
don’t think that a different strategy would have changed
anything. I’ve had better Sundays in my career, but I
won’t get downhearted or lose confidence. We know we
have to improve to get to the front: McLaren and
Mercedes have managed it and there is no reason to think
we can’t do the same. Clearly, aerodynamics is our
Achilles Heel at the moment and that’s what we have to
work on the most. Eight days ago in Malaysia we had seen
some encouraging signs, but that was not the case here:
the car has not changed, while others have made
progress.”
Pat Fry: “After three races it’s clear
our priority is to try and improve the performance of
our car. Today, we opted for a two stop strategy and now
we have to look carefully at the evolution of the race
to understand if a different choice would have changed
things: at first glance that does not seem to be the
case. Both Felipe and Fernando made two stops, using the
hard tyre in the final stint of the race. Unfortunately,
their degradation on our car was significant and Felipe
did not manage to fend off the attacks of those behind
him. Fernando was battling with Schumacher for at least
eight laps and his tyres suffered because of that, to
such an extent that he was unable to push as hard as he
wanted once he had a clear track ahead of him. Towards
the end, he too was struggling and just managed to hang
onto seventh place. We have a lot of work to do and we
must keep our cool in this situation. There is still a
long way to go this season and things can change
quickly.”
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